Alabama lawmakers disappoint governor

MONTGOMERY -- Gov. Robert Bentley said Friday that he is extremely disappointed over legislative defeats in two top Republican priorities this session -- charter schools and business tax incentives.

The governor pointed particularly to the Alabama Senate, where Republicans hold a majority just as they do in the House of Representatives, because senators did not pass a version of the charter school bill many Republican leaders wanted. A tax incentive bill also did not come up for debate in the Senate after it failed on a procedural vote.

"I've been disappointed in a lot of things the Senate has done or not done," Bentley said Friday morning. "The Senate has killed some major pieces of legislation that they said they were for. I would just like to say I think they have done very poorly."

Bentley later clarified that he was pleased with the performance of Senate GOP leaders -- including Sen. Majority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, and President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston -- and that his remarks were in no way meant to disparage them.

"I'm just frustrated with three or four of the Republican senators that did not help us," Bentley said.

Waggoner said the Senate's overall performance shouldn't be judged by a few bills.

"He is wrong to judge our effectiveness because there were two or three bills that did not pass. ... He needs to look at the hundreds of the bills we have passed," Waggoner said.

One of the disappointments came this week when an economic incentive bill failed on a procedural vote and so did not come up for debate.

The bill was aimed at letting companies that build or expand facilities in Alabama keep much of the state income taxes withheld from the pay of new employees. The bill was a proposed constitutional amendment and would have required approval by voters to become law.

Bentley had called the bill his top legislative priority, but it was fought vigorously by the Alabama Education Association. Henry Mabry, AEA's executive secretary, had argued that it would take money from schools and give it to companies.

"Every Republican stood with me and said my number one priority is to create jobs for this state. And most of the Democrats did the same thing," Bentley said. "And then for them to kill the only major jobs stimulation bill we had in the Legislature is just not acceptable."

Schools bill

Another key GOP initiative was shot down this week when the House Ways and Means-Education Committee declined to vote on a version of the charter school bill that had passed out of the Senate. The move effectively killed the charter school initiative for the session.

Rep. Phil Williams, R-Huntsville, the sponsor of a separate House version of the bill, said the version passed by the Senate put so many restrictions on creating charter schools that it wasn't worth passing.

Bentley agreed, saying that no charter school would have been created under the Senate version of the bill.

"The bill that came out of the Senate really didn't do anything. It's better not to even pass a bad bill," Bentley said.

The Senate historically has been tough legislative territory to get bills approved. With just 35 senators, each has significant ability to delay or stop legislation.

Waggoner said that while Bentley's staff members often are on the Senate floor, Bentley hasn't personally been as engaged with "rank and file" members as past governors.

The governor responded that he had worked the tax incentive bill on the House floor and had planned to on the Senate floor, but it was "unusual" that the bill didn't get up for debate.

Bentley said that, while he was frustrated on those two issues, he thought the Senate had done many "good things."